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GARFIELD, N.J. -- Three Florida residents charged with animal cruelty for packing 26 thirsty, imported puppies into a minivan found parked behind the Walmart in Garfield didn't show up for court Tuesday, authorities said.

As a result, Bergen County animal protection authorities are going to ask a judge for custody of those puppies who survived, a law enforcement told Daily Voice.

Warrants also were issued for their arrest, said the law enforcement official, who wasn't authorized to speak publicly.

One of the suspects, 36-year-old Jesus Gabriel Valentin Rivera, was behind bars in Florida on an unrelated charge, the official told Daily Voice.

The no-shows were all due in Central Municipal Court in Hackensack on Tuesday.

The English and French bulldog puppies "were contained within two cages and one cooler, all of which were feces-littered," Bergen County Prosecutor Gurbir S. Grewal said when the trio was charged last week. "One of the cages housed thirteen of the puppies.

"The temperature in Garfield that day [Aug. 19] was 90 degrees, and the puppies had no access to water."

"It appears as though they were flown from Colombia to JFK yesterday and were on their way to Florida," Deborah Yankow, director of the Bergen County Animal Shelter, told Daily Voice after the discovery.